


Design Time

by LetoaSai



Series: Secrets [7]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background scene, Interior Decorating, Set during main story, Sibling support, Welcome Home, nice gestures, teenagers that don't know how to paint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:35:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/pseuds/LetoaSai
Summary: Now that Roxas had returned to Twilight Town, he wanted to do something nice for Xion. Lucky he had a few friends he could enlist for help.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Secrets [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593604
Comments: 26
Kudos: 79





	Design Time

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. 
> 
> This chapter actually takes place during the main story Secrets Kept. Here is what Roxas and Lea were doing while xion was playing pirates with Sora and Vanitas.

Roxas stood in the empty room with his arms crossed. It had two huge windows, did that mean he needed to find curtains? Fuck, he really didn’t know anything about decorating. Why was he bothering? 

“Alright, i brought the stuff.” Lea said, walking in with a few paint cans. “You sure it was okay to let Olette pick the colors?” 

“Better than us. You’d pick an obnoxious shade of red and i just found out there are over four hundred shades of white so i’m not qualified.” Roxas said, spinning around the room. “It was luck there was a bedframe and a dresser marked in the catalog for us to cheat.” 

Lea clucked his tongue. “I mean, i guess so. This type of shit comes from the heart though, right?” 

“I guess?” Roxas muttered, hoping their well intentions came across. They already felt a little bad for shipping Xion off the way they had. 

Sora’s good timing returning from his never ending search for people Roxas had never met had fit into his plans perfectly. Xion could spend a little time with their Other while he and Lea put their plans to action. 

Since their return to Twilight Town they’d been trying to find out what their new normal would be without Organization thirteen hanging over them. 

Roxas tried to recreate his friendship with Hayner, Olette, and Pence even though he remembered them more than they ever would him. Still, he couldn’t think of them as his fake friends. The way they welcomed him home had helped too, even if they spent weeks being suspicious of Lea.

They moved into the mansion that had once been a prison. The room that had been Naminé’s had been torn apart and redecorated. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to visit yet, but if she decided to, that room wouldn’t be there anymore. They’d changed it every way they could. 

They’d been using sleeping bags for weeks while they looked through catalogs and picked out furniture. The three of them and Isa had all picked out rooms, even though Isa was still traveling back and forth to Radiant Garden to help out Ansem the Wise. 

Other than destroying Naminé’s room, they hadn’t made much progress yet. So much time had gone into protecting Ansem’s computer system that they were all slowly working on learning to use a little. Roxas was happy to let the others do that. He wanted very little to do with computers ever again. 

Today however, they were going to finally get started on their home. 

Roxas and Lea had been discussing it for days already. They’d start with Xion’s room. Didn’t she deserve that much? She’d been trapped with Xemnas and the organization twice. She’d given up her life for Sora. She was still learning to be her own person, and not a clone of Sora or a substitute for Roxas. 

Her own space wasn’t just ideal it was necessary. She needed it. They wanted to give it to her. They wanted to fill her room with warm, pretty things. They wanted to make it feel lived in and not like the bedrooms they’d had in the organization. 

That started with a good coat of paint. 

“So… You ever painted a room before?” Roxas asked. 

Lea turned around to look at him, brow raised. “Do i scream ’painter’ to you?”

“Well i don’t know.” Roxas snorted. “Isn’t living about having all kinds of experiences? How would i know if you’ve painted or not before?” 

“Well have you?” Lea shot back. 

“I’m like, two years old. Most of that time was spent learning to fight, so no.”

Lea made a face. “Yeah, okay. Point taken.”

Any left over furniture that had been left in the room had been disposed of. Most of the furniture in the mansion had. It meant they were literally starting from scratch, and not really qualified to do so. 

“Hello! Roxas!” 

“Awesome.” Roxas muttered, going to the bedroom door to poke his head out and yell. “Up here!”

In only a few seconds he heard the stomping of all three of his friends climbing the stairs. Hayner was in first, arms full of plastic. “Hey man.” 

Roxas beamed, “Appreciate that help.” 

“No worries. Xion’s cool.” 

“Yeah, and after all the crazy stuff you guys went through, this is the least we can help do.” Pence added, he was caring all the brushes and paint rollers. 

Olette brought up the rear holding paint trays and a bag of fabric off her arm. “Any idea when she’ll be back?” 

Roxas laughed, “Nah, i threw her at Sora. I know my Other, he’ll be happy to see her and drag her off on an adventure.” 

Lea barked out a laugh. “No truer words for sure.” 

“Hey, you should invite Sora over next time.” Hayner said. “He was cool to hang out with too and i know you’ve missed him.” 

“Missed him?” Roxas mumbled, “Yeah i guess so.” 

“C’mon guys, i wanna get started if she could show up again at any time.” Olette said, nudging Hayner with her elbow. “Spread those out. We don’t want to mess up the floor.” 

“And with the way you paint, Hayner. We’ll need every single one of those.” 

“Hey.” Hayner complained, but tossed half of his bounty to Lea, the two of them spreading them out. 

Between the five of them, they made quick work of getting the room prepped to paint. Olette and Roxas handled getting the colors ready while they utilized Lea’s height. He taped around all the window frames and glass to make clean lines while painting. 

Hayner reappeared with a step ladder to help put up the border around the room while Pence got started on the far wall. 

The room was going to be a cream color that Olette picked out. She had all kinds of reasons, explaining that it was a much darker white. Evidently it went well with the lavender color Roxas had wanted for the trim around the room. He didn’t question her knowing what she was talking about. 

They had art pieces to set up too once they got to that point. Naminé had done a few sketches for her that they’d framed and Roxas had gone to the beach to load up on shells. He had no idea what to do with them other than display them but that was a start. 

There were pictures too. Xion and Roxas. The two of them with Lea. With Kairi. They had only a single picture of Xion with both Roxas and Sora. 

There had been no time to take others when Sora had almost immediately taken off to look for Kairi and then Vanitas. 

“How was it?” Olette asked. “Seeing Sora again.” 

“Was fine.” 

Lea chuckled. “Really, Rox? That’s all you gotta say. You were almost Riku level’s of worried.” 

“Shut it, Axel.” Roxas snorted. “First of all, no one was Riku levels of worried and second, it was fine? I dunno. What do you want me to say?” 

“I take it he was okay.” Pence said. “Crap, we need to put tape around the door too. I’ll mess up the door frames.” 

Olette was quick to volunteer. “I’ll do it.” 

Roxas still just shrugged, brandishing his paintbrush for a moment like it was a sword and quietly contemplating how badly a wind spell would mess the room up. “Sora was fine. A little annoyed but i don’t think most people would notice.” 

“Sora can get annoyed?” Lea raised a brow, looking amused while he was delegated to tall people duties. 

“Of course he can.” Roxas snorted. “He’s a Somebody with a full range of emotions. He’s just oddly...composed about some of them.” Even he thought it was strange to say when Sora seemed to wear so many of his emotions on his sleeves. Him keeping something like anger to himself seemed foreboding. “He’s a fixer, you know? And right now he’s gotta fix Vanitas’ problems.” 

“Vanitas? That's a new name isn’t it? Who’s that?” Hayner asked, cussing when he nearly kicked over a bucket of paint on accident. 

“He’s…” Roxas frowned, knowing it was explained to him but he didn’t get it. “Kinda like me? Only instead of being part of Sora he’s part of Ventus, but… He’s part of Sora too?” 

“Right, because that’s simple. Not the least bit convoluted.” Lea chuckled. “Man this story just gets harder and hard to tell.” 

“So…” Pence turned to look at him. “He’s part Ventus and part Sora? Nice guy?” 

Roxas snorted. “Okay, maybe i’m explaining it wrong. Vanitas is Ventus with a bad attitude that looks like dark Sora.” He paused. “But, i mean yeah, he was nice. I only spent a little while with him and Sora. Sora is determined to have everyone accept him and Vanitas is… a little more realistic on his odds than Sora is.”

“Well, how do you feel about it?” Olette asked. She’d actually moved to sit out of the way in the hall, fiddling with new curtains she'd evidently brought. Roxas backed up enough to look through the open door at her. 

“I think he’s fine. Sora’s judgement is usually right on with these things and i agree. Don’t think things are going as well as Sora hoped."

“Wait.” Lea turned arms crossed. “They have a bunch of former Organization Thirteen members in their midst but they’re only worried about this one dude born from two super light hearted people?” 

“That’s Sora’s argument.” 

“Sora’s right then.” Lea snorted. 

“So Xion’s with him too?” Olette asked. 

“Mhm.” Roxas shrugged. “Figured she’d like that too. They were both in the thirteen to seven war but it wasn’t exactly like they got the chance to sit and chat. Not even sure if they knew who the other was at the time.” 

There hadn't really been any calm moments during any of that.

Roxas paused, looking around the room. “Are we gonna need two coats of paint?” 

“Probably.” Pence said. 

Damn, he really didn’t know how to plan a surprise. 

“Worst case scenario, you go distract Xion and i’ll finish up here.” Lea said, glancing back at him and practically reading his mind. “We’ll get it done for her.” 

Roxas nodded and thought about just texting Sora. He was positive they were out doing something fun but maybe if Sora was in on it, he’d keep Xion with him longer. 

They’d need to finish painting and then open all the windows to help air the room out. Maybe he could grab a couple fans to help speed things along. There was a room down stairs filled with her furniture that they smuggled into the house. They’d move up to the room as soon as they could. Olette would put her clothes away while Roxas and the others tossed the furniture around and hung things on the wall. 

There would be brand new sheets and all kinds of knick knacks they’d been collecting for two weeks now. 

In only a few hours they got a fair amount of work done. Maybe they wouldn’t get everything finished before Xion got home but there would be enough to surprise her with. To make sure she knew what she meant to them. 

That would be enough for now. 

Just being able to mesh his two groups of friends already validated so much in him. He wanted Xion to know her place too. She had one. A bedroom might be a silly thing but it was important when you didn’t have one. 

They’d gotten a fair amount done when Roxas’ phone rang. He’d foolishly assumed it was Xion and answered without looking. It made him all the more surprised when it was Aqua’s stern gaze staring back at him. 

“Roxas.” 

Oh, that was her ‘i am working’ and ‘i’m a master now’ voice. 

“Hello to you too.” Roxas greeted. “What?” 

“Is Sora with you?” 

Roxas blinked. “No. I came home already.” 

She muttered something under her breath that he suspected was a curse word. Who knew she had it in her? 

“Why?” 

Aqua straightened a little. “Master Yen Sid contacted me. He’s not in the tower. He was supposed to stay in the tower.” 

“Okay? Why?” Roxas raised a brow. “Who said that?” 

“It was the obvious thing to do after bringing Vanitas back with him.” Aqua said, and Roxas didn’t care for the way she’d said his name. Maybe Sora hadn’t been over reacting. He’d only spend a few hours with Vanitas but he didn’t seem to warrant the hostility. 

“And?” 

“And now they're missing!” Aqua said, a touch on impatience in her voice. “Ventus is beside himself and Master Yen Sid want’s them found."

Roxas blinked, unimpressed. “So let me get this straight. Sora, who has saved the world...several worlds, a fuck ton of times, now needs a babysitter because he’s hanging out with Vanitas. Who is arguably a part of him. That he brought back to the tower in the first place.” 

“He doesn’t need a babysitter, he needs to act responsibly.” Aqua said and Roxas’ brows flew up. 

“I’m sorry, are we talking about the same Sora? Basically the only of us that hasn’t fallen to darkness? Princesses notwithstanding” He watched her flinch and enjoyed it a little too much. 

“Look Roxas, this is important. I need you to have Lea go and track Sora down. I’m told he’s quite good at it.” 

From across the room, Lea’s brows rose. "How did i get dragged into this?" he mumbled. 

“What am i, your messenger boy? Why didn’t you just call Axel yourself?” Roxas frowned. “Wait, did you even try calling Sora?” He looked to the side, catching Lea’s eye. “Call Xion.”

“Riku is doing that.” 

Roxas made an annoyed sound while Lea pulled his phone out to find Xion. “He’ll answer then. He’s not gonna ignore Riku’s calls when he just got back from his search.” 

“We need to find him now.” Aqua snapped. There was definite worry in her tone but Roxas suspected it was because she was babying Ventus again. 

“Okay, look. You’re not my master or my mother so you need to watch who the fuck you’re talking to. I’m not Ventus or Terra and i’m not going to jump to attention just because you’re fucking stressed out. Sora is fine.” 

She faltered, finally realizing that she was out of line. “I just think that it’s important to-” 

“Trust Sora!” Roxas snapped. “God. Riku better get his shit together and if i find out he’s talking to Sora like you’re talking to me then i’ll join the Vanitas rebellion.” 

He hung up on her before she could respond and took a second to check his messages, nothing new. Nothing from Sora. 

“Doesn’t sound good.” Hayner muttered, closing up a paint can. It was impossible for them to not hear everything. 

“Seriously.” Roxas grumbled. 

“Hey!” Lea laughed all of a sudden. “What’s up, pirate princess!” 

Roxas wandered over to take a look himself. Xion was laughing, the sky and the ocean in the background and Xion herself was all dressed up. 

“Hey guys. I hope you're having fun doing your _boys things._ ” She rolled her eyes but her smile wouldn’t quit. “Can you see!? Sora brought us!” Before they could say a word she flipped the phone around so they could see the huge ship where Vanitas was hanging off the mast, keeping a lookout. “It’s so much fun! We got to save all these people and fight other pirates, and Sora’s gonna show us around the port town.” 

Lea and Roxas both exchanged a soft look. She was having fun…

“Well, we wanted to give you a heads up.” Roxas said. “Apparently Yen Sid is looking for Sora and Vanitas.” 

Her smile slipped a little. “They want us to come back?” 

Lea hummed. “They’re gonna send me after you, apparently. I’m practically a detective. All i did was call and i found you.” 

“Expert level sleuth.” Roxas snorted. 

Xion chuckled. “I’ll tell Sora. I’m sure we’ll head back to the tower after a while.” 

“Stay safe.” Lea nodded and she hung up. “Damn, i hope she took pictures. Place looks wild.” 

“Yeah. Sora would take her on a freaking pirate trip.” Roxas muttered. “You think we should head back to the tower too?” 

Lea made a face. “Yeah, i’m thinking that’s probably a good idea. Sora might need a little back up.” 

Roxas heaved a sigh and nodded, “Yeah. We didn’t finish here but...well we got a lot done.” 

“We can keep going.” Olette offered. “It’s early yet.”

“Yeah, we’ll drag the furniture up.” Hayner grinned. 

Pence snorted. “You and what army, man? Some of that stuff is heavy.” 

“Awe, c’mon. We can manage. Somehow.” 

Roxas winced a little, not wanting to find his friends squished at the bottom of the stairs. “Well…” 

“I’ll help.” They looked up to find Isa standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets. “Go do whatever. I’ll help them move things.” 

“Really?” Roxas blinked. 

“Awe, Isa cares about Xion too.” Lea mocked. 

Isa scoffed. “Just go.” 

Lea was rolling in a fit of laughter but Roxas just shrugged. It was a good compromise and a little more would get done in their absence. Did he need to keep an eye on Isa when it came to Xion...maybe. He’d figure that angle out later. 

He thudded his hand against Lea’s chest. “C’mon Axel. Let’s see if we can beat them there.” 

This was interrupting Xion day out. It better be for a good damn reason.

**Author's Note:**

> Series Order 
> 
> Gifts  
> A Home that Heals  
> Tourney  
>  **Secrets Kept**  
>  Design Time. (set during chapter 5 of Secrets Kept)  
> Look to the Rain (Flashback scenes set about 8 years prior)  
> Misfits


End file.
